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Liz Jensen a British author of eight novels is among today's most innovative writers. Her literary thrillers occupy the terrain between realism and science fiction. This first study of Jensen centers on the very diverse 'otherworlds' she creates in each of her novels which can consist of an indeterminate space of ontological instability a zone in which real and unreal converge to destabilize the realist text as in Egg Dancing (1995) and The Ninth Life of Louis Drax (2004). In other novels the otherworld relies on defamiliarization: thus in War Crimes for the Home (2002) the experience of war is transformed by being seen from a woman's perspective. In still other cases the otherworld spans the novel's entire topos as in The Paper Eater (2000) the full-blown utopia at the center of Jensen's oeuvre. Jensen's work approaches contemporary social issues such as religious fundamentalism ecological disaster and assisted procreation. Simultaneously it displays a number of characteristics of erudite fiction including self-reflexivity inter- and intratextual reference parody pastiche and burlesque. Notwithstanding the 'popular' elements of Jensen's work Helen E. Mundler's study adopts a rigorously academic approach to it referencing canonical works but also more innovative texts particularly by contemporary women writers as points of comparison. Helen E. Mundler is Senior Lecturer in English Studies at UPEC (Universite Paris-Est Creteil) with a research affiliation at the Universite Paris-X Nanterre-La Defense.

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Product summary

Liz Jensen a British author of eight novels is among today's most innovative writers. Her literary thrillers occupy the terrain between realism and science fiction. This first study of Jensen centers on the very diverse 'otherworlds' she creates in each of her novels which can consist of an indeterminate space of ontological instability a zone in which real and unreal converge to destabilize the realist text as in Egg Dancing (1995) and The Ninth Life of Louis Drax (2004). In other novels the otherworld relies on defamiliarization: thus in War Crimes for the Home (2002) the experience of war is transformed by being seen from a woman's perspective. In still other cases the otherworld spans the novel's entire topos as in The Paper Eater (2000) the full-blown utopia at the center of Jensen's oeuvre. Jensen's work approaches contemporary social issues such as religious fundamentalism ecological disaster and assisted procreation. Simultaneously it displays a number of characteristics of erudite fiction including self-reflexivity inter- and intratextual reference parody pastiche and burlesque. Notwithstanding the 'popular' elements of Jensen's work Helen E. Mundler's study adopts a rigorously academic approach to it referencing canonical works but also more innovative texts particularly by contemporary women writers as points of comparison. Helen E. Mundler is Senior Lecturer in English Studies at UPEC (Universite Paris-Est Creteil) with a research affiliation at the Universite Paris-X Nanterre-La Defense.

Returns policy

We want you to be entirely happy with your order from start to finish but, if for any reason you change your mind about your order or if your order arrives faulty, please click here to view our full Delivery and Returns policy including information regarding postcode restrictions.

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